Did You Spot the Gorilla by Richard Wiseman, 0099466430, Lowest Book Price Finder

Customer Reviews:

funny and interesting

This is quite an amusing little book, and there are several interactive exercises which you will inevitably end up trying out on anybody sat int he same room as you read.
Some of the ideas are pretty straight fowards, but others are quite intersting, and things I had not really thought about before.
I am certainly trying to look out for more gorillas now I have read it. Be warned though, if you read this on the bus you may get some funny looks when you try out some of the excercises or start suddenly laughing!

Another fantastic Richard Wiseman book

I have read "Quirkology" by Richard Wiseman and liked it so much I thought I would read another of his books. I decided on "Did you spot he Gorilla" and I found myself engrossed in it as I was with "Quirkology".
This book is fairly concise but it is to-the-point and a fascinating read. I will be reading more from Richard Wiseman in the future.

Lighthearted, fun and very informative

The narrative style of the book is excellent, with it's easily readable format that keeps you interested as you go, I read the book in two sittings. The way the author will have you kicking yourself throughout the book will certainly make you smile. On more than one occasion I believed I understood what I was supposed to miss, read on thinking 'ok I get that' only to flick back after a few pages of further explanation to see I had royally missed the gorilla!

Fun, powerful and most importantly - practical and applicable, one of the best in this genre I've read this year.

Gorilla hunting for beginners

Here is a title to make you stop and think. Based on an experiment where viewers of a video clip are asked to count the number of passes a three-a-side basketball team make, an astonishing 80% fail to see the gorilla-costumed intruder. This can be because we are too focussed - we don't see what we are not looking for. A 'gorilla' is something so blindingly obvious that we fail to see it.

The book is deliberately aimed at the 55-minute audience, those short-haul train or plane travellers, and is expensive on a cost-per-page basis. However, the cost has to be offset against the value it gives to the professional and personal lives of readers. Make no mistake, there is a huge carry-over in applying lessons to business life and home - change your outlook in one and it will almost certainly affect the other.

The volume may be used as a corporate hand-out, and it uses psychological tricks and ploys, with anecdotes of where a 'gorilla' has been found. Many readers could add their own examples, and that can work well in a group context.

A chatty style is not prescriptive, and there are 4 clear lessons to encourage gorilla spotting. One thing that I did find irritating was being asked to write answers in the book. Needless to say I did not do this - it ruins the volume for ever, and means that the pages cannot be revisited in the future. At any rate, not without purchasing an additional copy. The cynic may think that this is to encourage further sales.

Richard Wiseman has written a little gem that should make you stop and think. Perhaps the biggest key to spotting 'gorillas' is to be aware that there are some out there. Go out and look for some. It could change your life.

Peter Morgan, Bath, UK (morganp@supanet.com)

Insightful read - very useful

Excellent explanation of how we can use simple methods to view situations from a different, but straightforward, perspective. I suuggest you bookmark the useful tips as you go along, as you will want to return to them later.

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